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GUEST OPINION : FINDING MEANING
The Pomona College Marine Laboratory
By Skip Hellewell
Here ’ s a story that has always puzzled me . Before there was much in Laguna Beach , century-old photos show an impressive two-story structure fronted by Greek columns . Known as the Pomona College Marine Laboratory , it ’ s across from Main Beach and next door to “ Tent City ,” an array of forty tents that served as dorms . How did this come about ?
The backstory revolves around three unusual characters . The first is Miss Ellen Browning Scripps ( 1836-1932 ), a wealthy journalist and philanthropist . Born in London , England , to a newspaper family , she and her half-brother came to America and founded the Scripps newspaper chain , once America ’ s largest . Scripps , who never married , retired to San Diego to use her wealth for good . She had an interest in marine science and founded the Scripps Research Institute on her La Jolla ranch , which grew into U . C . San Diego . There ’ s also a Scripps College in the Claremont Colleges .
The second person in our story is James A . Blaisdell ( 1867-1957 ) minister , theologian , and in 1910 president of Pomona College . Blaisdell was a visionary who visited Oxford and Cambridge and conceived the Claremont Colleges consortium . It helped that Blaisdell was also a gifted fundraiser who found a benefactor in Miss Scripps . Blaisdell put two things together : the time wasted by students during summer vacations , and Miss Scripp ’ s interest in oceanography and began a summer marine studies program , first a 1910 camp at Portuguese Bend by Palos Verdes .
The Marine Laboratory might have remained at Portuguese Bend , and the Bixby Estate had offered 30 acres , except for Laguna developer Howard G . Heisler ( 1870-1941 ), who in 1905 developed a coastal portion of the Irvine Ranch as Laguna Cliffs ( the area around Cliff Drive ). To add class to his development , he promised a park along the bluff ( the subject of a future column ) and gave three lots to Pomona College for a summer Marine Laboratory . Orange County donors also raised money for a building , so Laguna won the competition .
A 1913 Los Angeles Times article reported , “ The building which is being erected at Laguna Beach for the Pomona College marine biological laboratory , will be completed in about ten days and ready for summer school occupancy . . ..” Another report told of Heisler ’ s Laguna Beach Company building a “ Tent City ” of 40 tents next door for student and visitor housing .
The Marine College was the biggest thing in Laguna after the artists . A 1916 Los Angeles Times article noted : “ The best year in the history of Laguna Beach was 1915 . A paved road brought autoists by the hundreds . A tent city , many pretty bungalows and a hotel were built along the Laguna-Arch Beach coast . Pomona College ’ s marine laboratory here will lead to a larger summer school .” The Marine Laboratory so fascinated a new husband on honeymoon that his wife filed for divorce , claiming , “ I got no attention at all . He spent our honeymoon mostly in the laboratory ... even took his meals there .” The Marine Laboratory ’ s unique summer program continued for 31 years until Pomona College sold the property in 1944 to James H . Cannon , a self-educated inventor and founder of Cannon Electric Company , who planned a new laboratory to be built after the war . Unfortunately , Cannon died in 1950 before the laboratory could be built , and the property was sold to General Petroleum and has been a gas station ever since . And that ’ s the story of the marine laboratory that , in the beginning , shaped our town . There ’ s meaning in that . Skip fell in love with Laguna on a ‘ 50s surfing trip . He ’ s a student of Laguna history and the author of “ Loving Laguna : A Local ’ s Guide to Laguna Beach .” Email : skip @ lovinglaguna . com
The Pomona College Marine Laboratory . Picture courtesy of the Laguna Beach Historical Society from the Tom Pulley Postcard Collection .